Messi and Yamal... A Clash of Generations for the World Cup Throne

Argentine Lionel Messi will become the oldest outfield player to feature in a World Cup final on Sunday, as Spaniard Lamine Yamal seeks to join the elite group of teenagers to have won the title.

The match at MetLife Stadium will mark the first meeting between Messi, captain of Argentina, and the player who has succeeded him as the new darling of the Barcelona academy.

No player has appeared in a World Cup final at an older age than Messi, except for Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff, who was 40 in 1982.

In stark contrast, Yamal did not turn 19 until last Monday, just one day before Spain’s 2-0 semi-final victory over France.

Everything has happened at breakneck speed for Yamal, who made his debut for Barcelona at the age of 15.

He made his international debut for Spain at 16, and it had been only a short time since he celebrated his 17th birthday when he helped La Roja defeat England in the 2024 European Championship final, where he was named the tournament’s best young player.

Messi said on Friday: “He is a global icon at 19, and he has the chance to achieve something historic, but we will do everything in our power to stop him.”

Yamal had suffered an injury before the World Cup began, and there were even doubts about whether he would participate at all after missing the end of the season with Barcelona.

Yamal admitted: “I was afraid the injury was serious, and above all, I feared that even if it wasn’t, I might suffer a setback and ultimately miss the World Cup.”

Yamal came on as a substitute in Spain’s opening match, which ended in a goalless draw with Cape Verde, and was substituted at half-time after scoring in the big 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the second round.

Since then, he has started every match, although without the devastating impact he had hoped to deliver.

At 19 years and six days old, he will become the third youngest player to appear in a World Cup final, while his teammate Pau Cubarsí, who is six months older, is not far behind.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente described Yamal during this World Cup as a “genius” in the same league as the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí or the Italian painter, poet, and sculptor Michelangelo.

He said: “They are different. What seems exceptional to us does not seem so to them.”

The only two players to have appeared in a World Cup final at a younger age are Pelé, who was 17 years and 249 days old when he scored twice in Brazil’s victory over Sweden in 1958, and Giuseppe Bergomi, who was 18 when he played in Italy’s win over West Germany in 1982.

To date, only eight players have won the World Cup as teenagers, while Pelé and Frenchman Kylian Mbappé remain the only ones to have scored in the final before turning 20.

Mbappé was 19 when France won the title in 2018, but his hopes of winning it again this year were dashed by Yamal and Spain in the semi-final.

Yamal now hopes to shatter Messi’s dream of winning a second world title, thereby cementing his status as the next true global star of football.

Notably, the two will face each other on Sunday, nearly two decades after a photo was taken of Messi, then 20, participating in a bath for five-month-old Yamal in a blue plastic tub during a photoshoot for UNICEF.

Former French star Thierry Henry, who won the World Cup at the age of 20, told Fox Sports, “Lamine Yamal facing Lionel Messi: this is the future facing the past, the present, the future, and immortality.”